boise ain't the place to wear your manolo's

Please forgive the radio silence, but I've been in Boise for work.

Now, I know what you're going to say because I said those exact same things. Prepare to be shocked: Boise isn't bad. And, no, we apparently did not sell it to Canada a few years back.

It was hot, but not humid and very comfortable. Unlike DC, where you can step out of your apartment freshly showered and made up only to be turned into a flat-haired, smeary-make-uped, wet-dog smelling mess in less than 5 minutes... Nope - you can go all day and just need to freshen your makeup a tad before going out for dinner. The people are really friendly and helpful, and very outdoorsy. Also, it seems they are helping to keep the chewing tobacco industry afloat.

Boise has a lovely riverwalk too, and we went walking along it for a while last night. The sky stays light till 10ish, and everybody sits out to enjoy it.

Boise is pretty. I can't say a whole lot for their cultural diversity (lots of blondes, lots of hispanics, and a decent tribal presence is pretty much it - the entire state is heavily conservative Republican and the Church of the Latter Day Saints is pretty big there too), but there is a decent Basque population there (they arrived in the late 1800's and became the region's shepherds), and we had dinner at this awesome hole in the wall called Bar Gernika last night. When was the last time three people could get drinks, two excellent appetizers and three entrees for $46.50 in this area? We ordered mushrooms sauteed in butter and sherry as well as a chorizo and idiazabal cheese tortilla - they were both outstanding. Also, we checked out a Mexican joint called Andrade's that was also very nice (I had the shredded pork enchiladas with mole sauce).

Sadly, I did not meet any real cowboys. I have a feeling they don't hang out in downtown Boise.

Now, getting there is the hard part as there aren't any direct flights, and you're doomed if you are trying to fly across the country during the middle of summer - thunderstorms shut down the Chicago airport for the better part of the day today and we were left scrambling. After many calls to the travel agency, we were able to detour through Denver and only experienced a minor delay in getting into DC. Damn, I'm beat. What the hell am I still doing up?